Partitioning an External Drive

I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on severalof my computers in case any of the drives fail.

I have two questions:

1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, underControl Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the firststep is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?

2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way togo?

No clue about the partition issue - but I can recommend Acronis True Image. I've used it for over a year, and it's saved my bacon numerous times.

When I insert the recovery CD and boot from it, it gives me the option to image all the drives attached to the target computer - Both SATA and PATA (without having to install the program on it first) - and it even detects the USB hard drive!

"Scott" wrote:

> I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on several> of my computers in case any of the drives fail. > > I have two questions:> > 1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, under> Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the first> step is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,> will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be > able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?> > 2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to > completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some > time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way to> go?> > Thanks!> Scott>

> No clue about the partition issue - but I can recommend Acronis True Image.> I've used it for over a year, and it's saved my bacon numerous times.>> When I insert the recovery CD and boot from it, it gives me the option to> image all the drives attached to the target computer - Both SATA and PATA> (without having to install the program on it first) - and it even detects the> USB hard drive!>> "Scott" wrote:>> > I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on several> > of my computers in case any of the drives fail.> >> > I have two questions:> >> > 1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, under> > Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the first> > step is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,> > will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be> > able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?> >> > 2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to> > completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some> > time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way to> > go?> >> > Thanks!> > Scott> >

usasma,

OK, I think I can figure out the partition procedure. When using your Recovery CD,are you saying that after booting with it, you can image the OS system as well aseverything else onto any drive? I ask this because Dantz Retrospect requires thatyou install the OS first, then Retrospect, and then image the backed up drive onto thenew hard drive.

> I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on several> of my computers in case any of the drives fail.>> I have two questions:>> 1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, under> Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the first> step is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,> will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be> able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?>> 2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to> completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some> time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way to> go?>> Thanks!> Scott

Update: I installed Maxtor's One-Touch and Dantz Retrospect. I also installedAcronis 8.0 on my Win XP desktop. Now, when I go to My Network Placeson my Win XP notebook, I can't access the c drive on my XP desktop. Themessage says: "Not enough server storage is available to process this command.".However, from the XP desktop, I have no problem accessing the c drive on theXP notebook. My XP notebook can access files on other Win 95 and Win98desktops on the network. I uninstalled Retrospect, but no change. Is it possiblethat Acronis is blocking access from the XP notebook to the XP desktop--whereAcronis is installed?

Update: After I uninstalled Acronis, there is no longer a problem accessing files onthe (Acronis) XP desktop from my XP notebook. A puzzling note: When readingthe .pdf Help file for Acronis 8.0, it identifies the software as the "Server for Windows"version. Is this correct for a home PC?

Thanks!Scott

Scott wrote:

> Scott wrote:>> > I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on several> > of my computers in case any of the drives fail.> >> > I have two questions:> >> > 1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, under> > Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the first> > step is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,> > will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be> > able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?> >> > 2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to> > completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some> > time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way to> > go?> >> > Thanks!> > Scott>> Update: I installed Maxtor's One-Touch and Dantz Retrospect. I also installed> Acronis 8.0 on my Win XP desktop. Now, when I go to My Network Places> on my Win XP notebook, I can't access the c drive on my XP desktop. The> message says: "Not enough server storage is available to process this command.".> However, from the XP desktop, I have no problem accessing the c drive on the> XP notebook. My XP notebook can access files on other Win 95 and Win98> desktops on the network. I uninstalled Retrospect, but no change. Is it possible> that Acronis is blocking access from the XP notebook to the XP desktop--where> Acronis is installed?>> Thanks!> Scott

Scott wrote:> > I'm setting up a Maxtor 250GB external drive to restore the hard drive on several> of my computers in case any of the drives fail.> > I have two questions:> > 1. I want to set up multiple partitions on the Maxtor drive. In Win XP, under> Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Disk Management, it looks like the first> step is to delete the 250GB partition on the external drive. After I do that,> will it then show me the option of setting up multiple partitions and will I be> able to do some in NTFS and others in FAT32 (for my Win98 machines)?> > 2. I'm debating between using Maxtor's included Dantz Retrospect software to> completely restore a failed drive...or...use Acronis 8.0, which I purchased some> time ago for this purpose. Any thoughts on which is the most reliable way to> go?> > Thanks!> Scott

Update:

I got everything partitioned properly, using Acronis 8.0 (new build 903), and Acronissupport solved my "no file access from a networked computer" problem with a registrytweak. Now everything is working fine.